


Seaborne Exordium

by BanoraWhite



Series: An Eorzean Odyssey [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Language, Original Female Character - Freeform, Self-Insert, adventuring!, all around camaraderie, first person POV, first person POV of injuries and pain, journey of self-discovery, lots of original characters tbh filling out a world here, occasional third person interludes, original adventurers, starting out in limsa lominsa, the real adventure is the friendships we make along the way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:09:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26080033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BanoraWhite/pseuds/BanoraWhite
Summary: Across the rift of space and time, a warrior of light has been chosen... it's just too bad she didn't have the chance to play the game before getting routed non-stop direct into Eorzea. But amongst the bustling docks and bridges of Limsa Lominsa, our heroine might see that this new world offers plenty of opportunity for her to come into her own, find the hero inside, and learn that true friends and comrades might only be an ilm away - assuming she doesn't fall off the Aftcastle before she can do so.
Series: An Eorzean Odyssey [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893406
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Overture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> note: temporary use of chat speak (first chapter only)

“Oh, _finally!”_

The outburst was followed up by the _thud_ of my backpack, keys, work apron, anything on my person, really, that didn’t need to held dropping to the floor as I stepped over it all in my eagerness to reach my computer. A computer that, for the last day or so (thanks internet speed) had been dutifully downloading the game I’d been looking forward to playing for actual years, that was finally now within reach. 

Final Fantasy XIV.

As long as the launcher was telling me correctly, anyway, there’d been some stop-and-go thanks to the few times I’d had to close the computer for transport or times I’d just plain fallen asleep before I’d reset the conditions for shutting off…

Anyway, it was done; I hadn’t even played it yet and I already knew that starting payments for this new laptop were way, way worth it. As much as I wanted to dive right in, I did sit and run up discord from the tray, popping into the group chat and rapidly typing a status update for the few who were on. Hitting send, it was seen pretty quickly and the notices started flying.

**-**

**Gamekorner**

**#general**

**-Ariadoney**

Ti’s donnnnnne

*it’s I’m so excited

**-Dyewg**

YAAAAAAAAAY

**-Sweetycake**

what what is

**-Ryushishi**

FINALY GOD UR SO SLOW

**-Ariadoney**

FFXIV

**-Sweetycake**

Ohh yeah

NO YOU SAID YOU’D WOW W ME

OWO

**-Ariadoney**

but i’m not;;;; really interested in that game now;;;;

anyway I p much got this new laptop to play FFXIV not gonna lie so that’s what I’m gonna do

**-Dyewg**

wait u didn’t make your chara yet did u

**-Ariadoney**

I downloaded all my other games but

No not yet

Been thinking… Viera samurai…

**-Dyewg**

lol bun bun

u don’t unlock samurai until lvl 50 tho :(

**-Ryushishi**

did you get shadowbringers???

**-Ariadoney**

It was on sale on steam so I got bought like all the expansions I think??

Aw man really

**-Ryushishi**

nice

you picked the right time tbh they just did a new patch that like cuts down on a lot of quest stuff

like people were getting scared off by the amount of fetch quest you had to do

**-Ariadoney**

really

aw I like lore tho

**-Ryushishi**

I don’t think lore has anything to do with it lol but trust me you’ll get lore;

Like

what do you know already btw

how blind are you going into this, because

**-Ariadoney**

DO NOT

TELL ME A THING

I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING AND I’M PRETTY SURE

I’VE SEEN ENOUGH RESIDUAL OUT OF CONTEST SPOILERS OVER TIME BY NOW;

CONTEXT

**-Ryushishi**

hheheheh like what

**-Ariadoney**

Not gonna say because you’ll probably know exactly which ones they mean and you’ll keep bringing up

At least the distant worlds orchestra was vague on the xiv stuff

I think… I hope it’s not a ‘I’ll recognize when I get to it and it’ll spoil the whole plot’ thing

God there’s so much content to get through isn’t there

**-Ryushishi**

you have SO much to get through

**-Ariadoney**

YESSSS

**-Ryushishi**

just, don’t get discouraged if you can’t blitz it bc heavansward takes longer to get to than u think

how do you spell

Wait

heavans…

**-Dyewg**

do you mean uhhhhh Heavens

**-Ryushishi**

Omg is that how

Have you been letting me mispell that this whole time I s2g

**-Sweetycake**

*misspell

**-Ryushishi**

NO

**-Dyewg**

cakes play with us

we can have a free company! :D

**-Sweetycake**

idk i already pay for wow

**-Ryushishi**

the day i played ffxiv was the day i uninstalled wow and never looked back

**-Sweetycake**

wut that’s mean :v

**-Dyewg**

Hey Ariadoney

ariadoney

are you playing the now-playing thing just popped up

lol is she ignoring us

**-Ryushishi**

WAIT PICK THE RIGHT WORLD

CRYSTAL PICK CRYSTAL

AAAAA

**-Dyewg**

honestly I have enough alts that she can start wherever and I’ll just jump into that

\--

The pop ups were ringing in at a rapid pace. I’d had enough delaying and only gave them a skim as they flashed by in the corner of the screen, because I had a game to play, damnit. Just sitting here, mouse poised, headphones over my ears, I couldn’t help but feel the thrill of it sending an actual shiver through my body and goosebumps up my arms. Maybe that was weird, but, just… yes, I _had_ waited actual years to play this. Years in which the game had gone a complete 180 and gone from one of the worst mmo’s to one the best, and the accolades just kept climbing with Shadowbringers being relatively new still. To me, at least. Ha ha, I really did have a ton of content to catch up on…

I guess that was also part of the thrill. I was going in all but blind. I didn’t follow the right people online to have been majorly spoiled, I was only vaguely aware that things _happened_ and that was it. And— I was excited to play something new, excited to _feel excited_. This was something I hoped would catch my attention. Something new I could… invest in, I guess.

Something I could use to escape…

Ugh. I shook myself out of whatever zone I’d been falling into. My login credentials were already in, and with a click, the ready button was, well, at the ready. There was no reason to hesitate, not anymore. So, with an eager smile, and the knowledge that I had a few blissfully free, uninterrupted hours ahead of me, I clicked start.

The screen went black.

...

After a few seconds my smile dropped because it quickly became apparent that this wasn’t the startup screen I was looking for. There was no music, no title screen… wasn’t there an opening movie? Did I not even get an opening movie??

“Oh, come _on,”_ I wailed, throwing my head back and shaking a fist at the injustice of it all. “Stupid game, don’t you dare glitch on me!”

Was it the stop-and-go installation I’d had to do? Had playing through Steam gummed it up or something? Aw man, was it… was it my laptop? But it was _brand new._ I eyed it doubtfully anyway. I’m pretty sure the internet wasn’t out either, all the bars were there and I don’t think logging in would have worked if it couldn’t connect to the server.

Well… what was another few minutes of troubleshooting compared to, as I’d said, actual years of waiting? I sighed, and clicked a little uselessly around the screen. No boxes, the task bar was covered up… unfortunately, the window key didn’t work. Or the escape. Okay then. Guess more drastic measures were needed here.

I was considering the power button a little wearily, contemplating the action of the force restart, when it happened.

The hum. The rising of the hairs along my arms, the back of my neck, a spine-crawling sensation of… _something in the room with me—_

I reacted— didn’t even think it through, just _reacted,_ by spinning around and finding absolutely nothing behind me. And why would there be? I was in my own room, with the door closed, and the front door locked. It was just me. There’s no way I’d not notice, I don’t know, someone else sneaking in when I could see all the points of entrance right there around me.

So… why was my heart beating so fast? Why was my fight-or-flight response suddenly in such high gear?

I thought about sitting again, because in my blind spin I’d leapt up from my stool, but I didn’t. The screen was still black. And… everything was quiet.

…Everything? I didn’t hear anything in my room… or anything beyond it. No cars. No trees or birds. No soft rush of wind from the windy day.

**Hear.**

I shrieked, as a _voice_ suddenly _resonated_ around my room, resonated through me, through my entire body, a single word filled with weight and power that _was not_ coming from the headphones currently slung around my neck where they’d slipped.

“What the _f—”_

**Feel.**

Once more, one more word, pulsing out from some singular point I couldn’t see. It knocked me to my knees this time from the pure force. My chair was knocked aside in a clatter; I flailed out, grabbing for the edge of my desk. My computer was there, screen still black, but the black was now a void, a square of inky darkness swallowing all the light around it, radiating some kind of force now all on its own as… I…

…continued to sink below my desk.

The floor of my room had dissolved into a roiling mass of shadow.

I screamed; lashed out, kicking back to save myself somehow, desperately wondering where the floorboards had even gone, but it didn’t work. It wasn’t water. It felt like… syrup, trapping my limbs, slowing the movements and sapping my strength the more I struggled. Past my knees, now— then waist— creeping up my torso, and when the tendrils crossed over my shoulders and pried my grip from the edge of my desk, I threw out a hand for someone, anyway—

But no one was here. I was alone. 

**Think.**

The darkness swallowed me whole.

* * *

A pair of headphones fell to the ground with a clatter, and all was quiet. The floors were usual. Birds sang in a distant tree beyond the blinds shuttering the windows. With a faint whirr of activity, the computer screen blinked on to the usual desktop, the launcher having seemingly closed. A _ping._ Messages played in boxes in the corner of the screen, unheard and unread.

**Gamekorner**

**#general**

**-Dyewg**

oh

she stopped

**-Ryushishi**

I thought she was gonna stream character creation

Hey

Ariadoney

Hey

**-Sweetycake**

ariaaaaaaaaa

**-Dyewg**

why did u stop I thought u were done with work :(

**-Ryushishi**

ariaaaaaaaaaa

ariadoney?

…

**Ryushishi**

?

…

**Ryushishi**

where did u go??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SCRATCHING the FFXIV self-insert itch, and hoping some fine folks will tune in along the way.
> 
> Anyroad, traveling into a final fantasy world via console is a time honored fanfic tradition and I, for one, fondly remember the days back on ff net where everyone and their mother ported right direct through their ps2. Good days.


	2. Verse I

I held my breath as long as I could.

Not really that long, unfortunately. I’d been panicking, caught off guard, and following through my own floor wasn’t exactly a thing I had ever learned to plan for. Nevertheless, I tried holding it in for as long as I could, all the while flailing about in hopes that maybe, just maybe I could pull myself back out of this again. But when the burn was too much to bear, there was no choice— I released precious oxygen with a desperate gasp, and braced for black oily substance to come pouring in.

It didn’t.

Instead, I breathed in air. Or… something like it. Whatever I inhaled, it had a strange aftertaste and felt heavy on my tongue, heavier than oxygen, but. Well… I was breathing. I was alive and breathing and not drowning. Whatever the hell was happening to me, I wasn’t going to _drown,_ and I sucked in as much blessed air as I could to soothe my burning lungs. That handled… I should probably try and see where I was, which… was an entirely different kind of fear. But if I wasn’t going to die immediately… yet… very cautiously, I slowly opened my eyes.

The darkness— spreading out endlessly before me, was not entirely a surprise. It was darkness that had pulled me into the floor, after all, but what _was_ a surprise were the luminescent bubbles, streaming from my person.

“What…?” I muttered; my voice echoed faintly, which was a bit unnerving. A closer look revealed that my clothes were wafting gently about my body, as if lightly tugged by an invisible current. My hair, too, bobbing around my head. Based on the direction of the ripples, and the motion of the luminescent bubbles… I was descending, then. Stilling moving steadily downward, to an unknown landing.

A bubbled brushed past my nose. I followed it, looking upward to see a steadily shrinking patch of light – my room! That was my room up there! But to my dismay, I watched the last little landmarks of my room fade away altogether as quickly as it was noticed. It was gone. I was alone, with no way up. Nothing I did seemed to have any effect. I couldn’t swim; my direction didn’t change no matter how I moved. All I could do was fall.

The fall felt like it went on forever.

Among all my very jumbled thoughts, I couldn’t help but remember how sensory deprivation was a real form of torture, so I was a little glad that I had my luminescent bubbles to prove that I was moving at all. After what felt like an age— maybe it wasn’t very long, I had no way to know for sure— the descent did finally seem to slow. The bubbles didn’t stream as rapidly. My clothes settled, no longer rustled by unseen currents, and when I took the chance to look down this time, instead of up, there was another glow rising to meet me.

I touched down on a solid surface. With the way it rushed up to meet me I panicked a little about the momentum, but when it came, I was deposited more than gently enough onto a rippling surface that glowed a pale kind of blue. My bare feet sank into the surface, but was stable, and where they touched quickly spread a web of ripples and tendrils, expanding onward until they faded a little ways away. It looked a little like the surface of some kind of body of water, actually. But… with the glow below, and the strange, undulating ripples— it hit me. The ripples were reversed, rolling as if I were viewing from the submerged side rather than the surface. Coupled with the bubbles, and the strange resistance to the air around me… if I were submerged, then what exactly was I submerged in? And what was on the other side…?

Light bloomed in front of me as the glow beneath my feet expanded. The bright patches extended off into the void, forming what only could be a guided path, and far off at the end there was… a light. A small orb of light, bobbing gently in time with the rippling path.

“Okay, then.”

An invitation, if I ever saw one. Never mind where to; I still was unclear on where _here_ was, exactly. Maybe I’d slipped and smacked my head on my desk and this was, uh, purgatory or something. Okay, that was depressing. Hopefully it wasn’t that.

On the other hand, if I stuck with the water theme that could very well be the lure of some giant void angler fish over there. Aw man. But behind me, there was nothing. On either side was nothing. I couldn’t go up; all I could go, was forward. I took a deep breath; oh, the panic was still there, somewhere, but everything was too surreal right now I think, for me to really lose it, so.

Forward.

I took a step. The patch glowed where I stepped. “Okay, then,” I mumbled again, and bit by bit, I began my slow, hesitant walk forward to that waiting ball of light.

* * *

I walked. In the beginning it was a shuffle, from my reluctance to move forward into the literal unknown, but as time? passed and nothing happened, some of the reservations faded away and I walked a little more boldly, my stride a little longer. As for the ball of light, I don’t think it belonged to a giant void angler fish (probably,) as I quickly found that the little thing seemed to have a personality of its own. When I first approached it, its bobbing increased until I found myself right in front of it, close enough to see it just about vibrate in apparent excitement.

That said, I never quite got to touch it. Turns out it could also move; rather than remain in one stationary point, it moved back, until I caught up, and moved back some more… then circled lazily overhead, coming within a hair’s breadth away as if to nudge me gently forward whenever I slowed. Sometimes it chimed, a gentle airy sound amidst the void.

Speaking of the void, it didn’t stay that way either. There was only blackness, sure, in the beginning, but after I started walking, bit by bit it began to fill with points of light. They were… beautiful. Sparkling motes, webs of delicate shining branches, traces of lines that looked like breezes given form. All in all it creating a tapestry of glowing serenity that the more I bathed in, well… the safer I felt. The path still rippled below me with its aethereal waves.

Gazing around, it was very much like an underwater galaxy, I thought. It still told me nothing about what it all was supposed to mean. The orb flitted overhead, without a care in the world; I’d done nothing but follow along, for lack of anything to do. Maybe it was time to change that.

“Um…” I cleared my throat. I felt a little self-conscious, seeing as no one was around, but I had to try something. And that something, I guess, was question the thing currently guiding me through the abyss. “So… uh, you don’t happen to be sentient, do you?”

The orb did not respond. Whether because it couldn’t or simply wouldn’t remained to be seen. It did, however, settle somewhere over my shoulder and began keeping pace with my walking.

“Okay then,” I sighed, _yet again_ , “So, definitely don’t know what I’m saying?”

The orb bobbed once. Unfortunately, I had no idea what this meant. Maybe it meant yes, it did know what I was saying, or it could be saying no, it didn’t know (implying it knew sarcasm) or it could just be… bobbing. Because it did that. Yeah, this was probably a dead end. 

I crossed my arms, dropping my shoulders and feeling very small all of a sudden. My head hurt, and I was tired, torn between not knowing to cry or panic or just pass this all off as a dream. A very weird dream.

“I want to go home…” I whispered. There was a soft chime over my shoulder; the orb weaved in front of me, trying to get my attention. I’d stopped walking, after all. For all the walking I’d done, I’d seemingly gone nowhere at all, and there was no end in sight. What exactly was the _point?_ I said as much out loud, only for the orb to dip up and down a little more urgently that it had before.

“So you _do_ know what I’m saying?” I asked it tiredly, “Because, look, I just… I don’t know. A sign or something would be nice. I fell here and now I’m stuck, and— do you get it? What am I even doing here?”

It only darted a little further off, waiting, and retreated a little further. _Keep moving,_ was the only message I could understand there.

“Fine. Just… fine.” Grumbling bitterly, I shrugged, and moved grudgingly forward. “If this is all a fever dream of some kind I can deal, but if I’m dead then I am going to have some words with whoever set this place up—”

There was no advance warning. Why would there be? All I’d seen was dark, dark, light, endless walking, and of course I’d fallen into wary complacency. Therefore, when the massive ball of darkness exploded from the path in front of me—I screamed, threw up my arms, and stumbled back as a wave of force nearly threw me off my feet.

Where once was silence, was now a howling gale. Purple streaks of electricity surged into the gentle abyss of lights as the space flooded with a dark fog. The orb of light winked out— or was it blocked? The burst had appeared between my position and where it waited, but the status of my guide wasn’t really on my mind anymore as from the howling maw came…

There was something forming inside. It— it was a person. A tall person, clad in a dark hooded robe, covered in spikes… but I couldn’t see their face, because beneath the hood was a blood red mask, formed in the likeness of a demon.

**_Darkness…_ **

I flinched as a voice filled my ears. _The_ voice. But this time it sounded more urgent— more like a warning.

My hands clenched into fists, white-knuckled in tension. My heart thudded in my chest, as the thing in the shape of a human finished forming from the portal and rose threateningly before me. They said nothing. The dark holes where eyes would be bore into my own, and I found that I was frozen in place, unable to tear myself away. Below the mask, I saw a glimpse of a pale face and pale, pale lips, betraying no emotion at all.

I turned and ran. Ran straight back the way I came, because somehow? I knew deep down in my very soul that _I could not fight back._ Whether the dark figure meant any harm— no. There was no question. If I stayed then _I would die._

In a flare of brilliant white, my guiding orb raced overhead. Any gentleness it held was gone; now it raced at a rapid pace past my shoulder, back down the path and just in time, too, because to my horror there was more purple-tinged smoke boiling from the way I’d came, too, and I was _running right into it!_ I skidded to a stop, frantically trying to keep from barreling straight into this new wall of shadow, but under the light of the guiding orb the roiling shadow was burned all away. A circle formed around my feet, like a prism of rainbow colors; a protective shield, from… _that._

Well, the orb definitely wasn’t the lure from a giant void anglerfish then, probably, I thought a little hysterically, but as for demon mask… They hadn’t reacted at my attempted ditch. Probably didn’t need to since my escape was so neatly cut off. God, I could feel the _wrongness_ permeating the air. The sheer presence of the dark figure in front of me threatened to bring me to my knees. They weren’t even doing anything. All they were doing was standing, s _taring._

…waiting? Tendrils of shadow swirled around, faster than I could move, adding to the steadily building cloud banks. it was only the two of us now— and no way out.

“Can I _help_ you or something?” I yelled in a fit of fatal brain-to-mouth mistranslation, and immediately regretted it. I tried a different angle. “Did— did you bring me here?” Again, nothing— but there was a pulse of light, fractals scattering around my protective circle as the orb above me reacted instead.

The dark figure did respond to that— their mouth curled into a snarl. I saw a glimpse of teeth. 

Okay. This guy was bad news. I was tired, I was scared, I didn’t know what the hell was going on or why I was even here, and I guess in that moment mister tall, dark, and mysterious was becoming an extremely convenient scapegoat for all the feelings I had going on right now.

“Think… okay, okay, think…” I mumbled, “Think, think, what do I do, what do _I do?”_

**_Raise thy hand._ **

The voice again, once again reverberating through my very being, and was it a woman’s voice I was hearing? I sure didn’t have reason to listen, but for lack of anything useful to do, I did as it urged, and wildly thrust out into the light. Radiance bathed me from above. Disconcertingly, my clothes were shifting something fierce; I think they were... changing? They were settling a littler longer and heavier than my simple button up and slacks. But on top of that, I felt a weight from in the palm of my extended right hand, and gripped it with all my strength.

A blade extended into the shadow. Well— it was more like the white outline of what probably was a sword, it shone so brightly; like pure sunlight condensed into a single length. Mister void guy didn’t like it, _at_ all. My blade of light shone out against his shadows (and when exactly did he become a _he?_ I thought blankly) and at that, he moved— threw out his arms, shifted his shoulders in a hunched, bestial stance as his mask glowed— a harsh red sigil formed in front of his face, glowing like the embers of a stoked fire.

 _Another_ mask? What was this guy trying to hide, exactly? I tightened my grip on the weight in my hand. It was comforting. I wasn’t helpless like this now. I could do something; I could _act._

“Come on, then,” I muttered, “Try it— try me, buddy! I’m not afraid of you!”

I was, actually, afraid of him, but _he_ didn’t need to know. But a bluff, that I could do. I didn’t know how to actually use a sword, but with every fantasy movie I’d seen running through my head I gripped my sword in both hands, holding it out in front in the steadiest stance I could muster. 

“ _Come on!”_ I yelled, over the roiling shadow, over the light, at _him._ Something filled the air, an emotion that wasn’t mine swelled up in my chest—

_Approval. Pride._

Demon mask charged. Shadow clashed with light, and sparks exploded. It all happened so fast, all I knew was that I swung, with all the strength I had, right at the charging shadow— and _hit._

An explosion. There was a shock wave blowing everything back. Under the edge of the blazing sword, the banks of shadow was parted, and feeling the full brunt of the point of impact, well… unfortunately…

I fell. Was thrown, more like it, because in the end, for all my bravado I was only just strong enough to deflect, and effort alone made me stumble. Right out of the circle. Right into the space I’d cut in the shadows. And right off of the path. “Oh, shit—” I started to say, feeling the world tilt sideways as… I…

Broke through the surface.

Huh. That _was_ salt in my mouth I tasted. Fighting back a wave of vertigo, I swear my eyes were only shut a second, when I opened them and found the _everything changed._

I’d fallen into an ocean.

“Wha—”

A wave smacked into my face, filling my mouth with, yep, saltwater. I gagged, spitting it all out as I started treading water. Suddenly being soaked to the bone was a shock, as well as being forced to hold my own weight. Cold rushed through my limbs, and my teeth started chattering.

Where had the path gone? And… the demon mask guy? Had I got him? There wasn’t any shadow or light now, just regular light, deep blue waters, and, on further inspection, nothing but choppy, open ocean

Ah.

This was bad.

It was hard to look around, but I gave it my best shot, craning my neck around to see if there were any landmarks or landmasses, but found nothing; even worse, I couldn’t see more than a few yards away due to the fog that was settled all around. The waves very quickly faded away into the distance. Nothing was here.

This was _really_ bad.

I took a deep breath and kicked upwards, the better to stick my head out of the water as much as I could. “Hello?” I cried into the mist— “I-is there— help—”

I sank a little too low and suffered another mouth of salt water, coughing and sputtering.

Okay. The better I kept moving, the better I could conserve body heat. The water wasn’t quite freezing, but it was still cold enough that I felt the energy leeching out of my arms and legs as I kicked at the water and tried desperately not to sink too far down. Worst came to worse, I could float, but I knew how bad this looked. Funny, I almost wanted to be back in that nightmarish rainbow road battle.

A person could easily tread water for five or ten minutes, but on average could do so up to more than an hour. The question now: where on that average would I fall? On average people didn’t slip out of _voids_ into unknown open _ocean_. I continued to float. It was all I could do. But how long, said that nasty little voice in my head— a perfectly average voice, my _own_ voice, in fact— could I keep this up?

_Where the hell am I…?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fluffing up the character intro cinematic with some artistic liberties.


End file.
